Pre-order - Tag orders when some of the items ordered are not in stock

If you'd like to tag orders when the entire order CAN NOT be fulfilled immediately due to current inventory levels, regardless of how many locations the fulfillments are split across, then we have a solution that can do just that.

In this article, we'll explain how to set this up.

Using the opposite criteria to achieve this

Whilst we don't have specific a criteria labeled some items ordered are not in stock, we do have a criteria that handles the opposite scenario called All products ordered are in stock and can be fulfilled. 

This is a very simple criteria with no configurable options and it can be found within the  Fulfillment category in the Select criteria pop-up window:

Click the Use in your workflow button to select this criteria.

Within the criteria you can also set those items not tracked by Shopify to be assumed as In or Out of stock:

When used in conjunction with the Adding tags when the workflow DOES NOT match option in the workflow builder, it can achieve the desired result.

Adding tags when the workflow DOES NOT match

With the Adding tags when the workflow DOES NOT match option, you can specify one or more tags that should be applied to orders if the criteria within a workflow do not match the order.

This option can be found at the bottom of the workflow builder:

By using this option in conjunction with the All products ordered are in stock and can be fulfilled criteria, you can create a workflow that will help you to start the process of back-ordering the products needed to fulfill the order.